Posted on 09/03/2005 5:36:18 AM PDT by Esther Ruth
Jobless Rate in Gulf Coast Likely to Surge By JEANNINE AVERSA, AP Economics Writer 2 hours, 22 minutes ago
WASHINGTON - The jobless rate in the hurricane-ravaged Gulf Coast is expected to spike to 25 percent or higher, and when the long rebuilding process begins it's likely the same people the economy had left behind before the storm — the unemployed and working poor — will have the most trouble getting back on their feet.
Workers in flooded New Orleans, which faces major cleanup challenges, are taking the biggest hit.
"There's no question that the recovery is going to be much longer and more painful for the 28 percent of the local population in the New Orleans area living below the poverty line," said Liz Ann Sonders, chief investment strategist at Charles Schwab. "It's going to be much harder for the local economy to recover in the absence of resources and insurance."
Lives and livelihoods are in limbo, perhaps for a long time since it could take years to rebuild the city.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Seems to me that there will be hundreds of thousands of construction jobs, electricians, phone, levee rebuiders, and so on.
Georgia Pacific gapped up on Tuesday and again on Wednesday and again on Thursday. The Tuesday and Thursday gaps closed but not the Wednesday one. Breakaway?
Ms. Market sez they're gonna need to buy about a gazillion 2x4s over the next few years.
But, no, I wouldn't worry about joblessness after about the next 3 weeks, the effects of Katrina may be inflationary as all getout, but I think we may have dodged the recession that I expected to start towards the end of this year.
That's funny. My in-laws in Gulfport told me (yes, comms were reestablished two days ago) that construction jobs are hiring at $30 an hour.
Granted, there ain't much to spend it on, but it'll help hedge for when things get going again, and it'll give them something meaningful to do as they've already cleaned up their little block (on a cul de sac) and fixed up houses as best they can.
Ya think??
I read on Drudge that there will be 100 billion flowing into the area for reconstruction. If you remain out of work in an area with cash flowing in like this the problem is with you and not the economy.
You obviously don't have any grasp of the socialist utopia we live in. The people are supposed to sit on their dead butts while the federal government cleans up and rebuilds.
Well said. Anyone willing to put their hands and back to work will shortly have more than they can handle. It'll be a rough winter for the junkies, hopeless drunks and panhandlers until their resupply networks get established.
Just bus 'em all to San Francisco. Out of the toilet; into the cesspool.
Exactly right!
Gotta agree with you. If family shelters can be set up in the area along with a means of transportation from there to the clean-up/rebuilding sites, seems like there could be plenty of work. All the able-bodied men and women who don't have children to watch could work and perhaps even be trained in some of the construction trades.
Maybe there could even be a Habitat for Humaity type of approach where folks can put sweat equity in working on homes that they would get at low or no cost. Even unskilled workers can put in "sweat equity" hours raking, painting, cleaning etc.
Requires planning and supervision and management. Unfortunately, I have not seen an abundance of this on any government level.
Yep! Two types always, Glass half full or glass half empty.
I live in the Florida Panhandle, where many Hurricane Katrina victims have evacuated. (Eglin AFB is building an evacuee site at the Fort Walton Beach Fairgrounds to house 1,000 people.) The current unemployment rate in my county (Okaloosa) is 2.9%. There are plenty of jobs available here if the evacuees seek work. I think the author of this story is overlooking the fact that many evacuees will seek and find work where they have relocated.
There will be a lot of job opportunities during the cleanup and reconstruction of the ravaged areas.
They likely will not be in nuclear physics, but there will be work aplenty for anyone so inclined.
Friends there include a urse (no shortage of work) and a diver(sat rated) who will be very busy in the coming months.
sw
How many construction workers and admin people will be needed?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.